Malaria vaccine could hit market by 2015

Marketing approval for a malaria vaccine that has shown positive results is to be sought next year. GlaxoSmithKline is set to start the ball rolling on getting regulatory approval for the first ever malaria vaccine, which could see it on the market by 2015.

The British drug company has had success in trials of the new vaccine, which saw the number of malaria cases almost halved within the young children that were involved in the study. After 18 months of follow-ups once the children had been treated with the RTS,S vaccine, just under 50 per cent of the older children were malaria free, while infant cases of malaria were reduced by around 25 per cent.

Over 15,000 children and infants in Africa were included in the phase III clinical trial. The vaccine was designed to provide protection from the disease, which kills around 660,000 people every year, for a period of 18 months. Trials are still ongoing within 11 research centres throughout seven African countries. At each of these sites, the efficiency of the vaccine was assessed separately and were shown to still be significant.

RTS,S is being developed by GlaxoSmithKline alongside the non-profit organisation Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI). Funding for the development has been provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, Sir Andrew Witty, said: “We’re very encouraged by these latest results, which show that RTS,S continued to provide meaningful protection over 18 months to babies and young children across different regions of Africa. While we have seen some decline in vaccine efficacy over time, the sheer number of children affected by malaria means that the number of cases of the disease the vaccine can help prevent is impressive. 

"These data support our decision to submit a regulatory application for the vaccine candidate which, if successful, would bring us a step closer to having an additional tool to fight this deadly disease. We are grateful to the scientists across Africa and GlaxoSmithKline and to our partners who have worked tirelessly for almost 30 years to bring us to this point.”